Why You Should Care About Ancient Greek Pottery: The Cycladic Hedgehog
Ok, I will admit the title of this article sounds a little odd. The average person does not care about Bronze Age Greek Pottery, but I do. A lot. Maybe an unhealthy amount. And I think more people should too. Come with me on a journey to the ancient past, to take a look at strange and fun artefacts!
First Meetings
Walking through the National Archaeological Museum in Athens, it is easy to miss the cabinet that this little fellow is tucked away in. Hidden in a side room, and standing at less than 25cm tall, it is hardly the star exhibit. But there is something about him that captures the eye. Stood on a shelf amongst a sea of pottery, it extrudes a charm that draws the eye of the lost tourist, wandering through the small hall. Among its case companions, it is one of the few that is actually painted, and more complex in design by several nautical miles. To examine why this is interesting, we must delve into the history of the people who created it.
The area of the National Archaeological Museum that this charming ceramic calls home is dedicated to Cycladic artefacts. This field in Greek history is less well known than the Classical, Hellenistic, Byzantine, and Mycenaean. It is equally as important nonetheless. The term Cycladic refers to a culture, not just an era. The period in question: roughly 3000 BCE, to roughly 1000 BCE. The place? The Cyclades. These beautiful islands in the Aegean hosted Greece’s spectacular entrance to the Bronze Age, the culture lasting to the end of the same Bronze Age. They are famous (well, reputable would be a better term) among archaeologists for two key styles: the “Frying Pan”, and the “Idol”. The former (above), an odd decorative terracotta disk shaped like its namesake. The latter (below), an eery yet beautiful figure, typically carved from marble. These two are relatively common, figuratively speaking. Excuse the pun. Though these incredible artefacts are a subject of great interest, they will not to be discussed further here.
A Prickly Biography, some Theory, and a lot of Unresolved Debate.
Among the typical styles of artefact expected, the hedgehog stands alone. Well, almost alone. It is the best preserved example of its kind, of very few. The documentation of this better preserved one is poor. We know that it was found on the island of Syros, in the cemetery of Chalandriani. The date range of 2800–2100 BCE has been induced from analysis, and this is all we know. In comparison to other pottery found at the same site, the hedgehog stands out from the crowd. So what was its purpose? Well, the hedgehog is hollow. This detail, as well as the little bowl it is holding, suggests that this must have been designed for liquids.
I wish it were easy to determine the use of the hedgehog, if any. Unfortunately, there is so little information scholars can determine. In fact, there is so little evidence around this curious little object that I may be completely incorrect in calling it a hedgehog! Some suggest it may even be a bear. The debate over what animal this actually represents is quite amusing in itself. Some believing the painted decor is ritualistic, whereas others argue this paint represents the spines (the back of the animal being covered in a grid pattern) and the animal must be a hedgehog, as bears do not live on the Cycladic islands. I fall into the camp that believes it is a hedgehog, but feel free to form your own judgements. Perhaps it was made by a sailor who went to the mainland and saw a bear?
The poor little animal must suffer through some more debate, as we move back to the subject of its purpose. It sits, anthropomorphically holding a bowl. This adorable detail looks almost as if the hedgehog/bear is sipping from the bowl it holds. Thus, it obscures the hole that leads to its inside and we can make the assumption it was designed to contain a liquid. Was it then a ritual jug? A lamp? Or an overcomplicated cup? To find out more, we must move to looking at a very similar artefact, found on Keos. I did some digging here (metaphorically). I could only find reference to such an artefact in research papers, and unfortunately no images. Though reportedly in worse condition, it was also found in a grave amongst a horde of pottery. This grave, though simplistic nowadays, likely indicated wealth in the Early Bronze Age given the sheer amount of pottery. Thus, alongside how the fact that this animal is painted, we can draw that it may be a symbol of wealth.
This leads us closer to the misty truth, but truly everything else is riddled with guesswork. Analysis of the better preserved bear shows that there was no ash, and a lack of burn marks decreases the likelihood of it being a lamp (plus the image of such a cute creature holding a bowl of fire is amusing and slightly disconcerting). Furthermore, the small scale and lack of convenient place for a stopper leans the purpose away from a storage device. A lack of evidence however is not evidence in itself, and from this further conclusions get hazier. The decoration, and veritable charm, may point to the object having display purposes. The odd shape may lead us away from the thought of it being a cup. From this point though, all scholars can do is make an educated guess. One for example likened it to a teddybear, isn’t that an adorable thought?
So, this hedgehog sits in its case, in a small corridor of the National Archaeological Museum of Athens. Ogled at by the occasional tourist, it represents an amusing and adorable scholarly mystery that goes unnoticed by the holidaymakers. We will likely never know its true purpose, but one thing is for certain. It is incredibly cute.
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Sources, and for more information regarding the object and Cycladic Pottery:
- https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/art-and-archaeology-of-the-aegean-bronze-age/early-bronze-age-pottery-in-the-aegean/602E3DC6B28817CA45013A8BA49ECA50
- https://pure.rug.nl/ws/portalfiles/portal/10421517/c4.pdf, pages 131, 133
- https://www.proquest.com/docview/303299098?parentSessionId=candqay26u9hmanPCSCPDaEVVpz0NxgqRsUTtYLhm8E%3D&accountid=14533, pages 190–191, 197–199
- R. Higgins, World of Art: Minoan and Mycenaean Art Revised Edition, (London, 1986)
- https://shareok.org/bitstream/handle/11244/50847/2017_Ashbacher_Mariah_Thesis.pdf?sequence=2&isAllowed=y
